


A World Alone

by withaflashoflove



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9087409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withaflashoflove/pseuds/withaflashoflove
Summary: A simple walk to the Jitters' rooftop turns into something Iris wasn't expecting.





	

The city looks small from the top of the Jitters' rooftop, with all of its lights and buildings.

It's a little romantic. 

How she can see so many people walking through the streets, people who look small enough to be specks, but people nonetheless, some walking aimlessly, some with sad smiles on their faces, some holding hands with their lovers, others clearly on a mission to reach someplace.

She doesn't know where they're going.

Just knows that they're all probably going somewhere. But she's not moving.

Right now, she's standing still, being the bystander that others probably are to her on most days.

Because most days, Iris is on a mission. 

_Break the story._

_Get the interview._

_Catch the lead._

But tonight, she's not.

Tonight, she's people watching from her favorite place in the world...with her favorite person in the world.

And where else would she rather be than here?

With Barry's arms curled around her waist and his smile dancing on her cheeks as he presses closer into her.

When he kisses her again, she lets out a content sigh and thinks they probably shouldn't be up here, but he's The Flash and she's Central City's finest reporter, so if he can't speed them out of there fast enough, Iris would work her magic some other way.

Barry asked her to take a walk with him earlier in the night, and while she was a little skeptical about it, she happily obliged, not wanting to miss a chance at holding his hand and sneaking some extra time alone with him.

They were always so busy, the two of them. 

There should be some prominent rule that busy people shouldn't date each other.

Especially not when - most of the time - the job comes first.

Not when interruptions and death threats and future prophecies were things of concern, things that forced most of their energy to be focused on.

Unfortunately, it meant their relationship got put on the backburner a lot of the time. Afterall, stolen kisses and late mornings in bed could only fill so many of their desires.

But nights like this made things a little easier...put things in perspective....that no matter how much the world spun and how much it needed them, they'd always need each other a little more.

Iris wasn't expecting much from the walk. She  _was_ hoping for ice cream, she'd admit that. But nothing else.

Not a trip to the rooftop.

Not Barry spinning her around and pulling her in for a kiss.

Not him getting down on one knee...well...attempting to at least.

Because she quickly caught on and before he could reach the ground, her lips were on his and her hands were firmly linked around his neck and the ring was still in that little velvet box behind his back.

Eventually, he somehow managed to break the kiss. Not that she wanted to. Not that she  _ever_ wanted to stop kissing him.

But she let him, just like she let him put the ring on her finger before she said yes, just like she let him pull her back into a hug and hold her close for many many minutes, minutes her chin rested on his shoulder while her eyes alternated between fighting off tears and staring out into the city.

The thing about proposals is no one really knows what to do _after_ them.

After the yes.

After the kiss.

After the hug.

Barry seemed to know though, just like he always knew. 

So when she pulled away from him, finally locking her eyes with his, his smile lit up the entire rooftop, and Iris wondered how he could always be so pretty, with his pretty green eyes and his pretty freckles and she couldn't help it when she pushed up to kiss him again and again and again, peppering her lips across his face, gripping his arms with her hands, hugging him so fiercely that his laughter rang through the night.

Which eventually led them here.

After their lips were too tired to do anymore kissing and after it finally hit her that she hadn't actually said yes.

Though she assumed he figured it out.

Still, she told him. A million times over, she told him  _yes yes yes._ Because she wanted to marry him in the same way she wanted to spend every waking moment with him.

There was something about the scarlet speedster with the long eyelashes and the twinkling eyes that made her knees weak, that made her lungs fill with air and her heart beat out of her chest.

So here they were now, still wrapped up in each other, with Barry holding her tight, keeping her warm against the cool breeze of the night, keeping her safe against the chaos of the city.

And for tonight, they decided it'd just be the two of them.

They'd let everyone else know tomorrow.

They'd maybe have some sort of family dinner to celebrate.

But that was all for later.

Right now, it was just him and her. It was him burying his nose in her neck and her toying with the new ring on her finger.

Right now, the city was moving and people were carrying on with their lives, but they were watching it from a distance.

Wrapped up in each other. Like they were the only two people in the entire world.

* * *

"I didn't technically propose yet."

His voice stirs her awake, breaking the silence of their bedroom.

"Hmmm?"

Barry's hand gently massages her shoulder, and Iris takes that as her cue to lift her head from his chest, meeting his eyes.

"You..." he sheepishly smiles, "you kind of stopped me before I asked it."

"But I said yes," her brows furrow, and he must think that's endearing by the way he kisses the bridge of her nose.

"You did. But I didn't ask it."

"But you were going to?"

That's when Barry sits both of them up, and the blanket that had been covering them slowly slips off, exposing their skin.

He turns the light on, which _definitely_ wakes her up.

"You know," Barry says, coming back to face her, "you being an investigative journalist is no fun sometimes."

And it clicks.

She grins.

"You wanna ask me if I'll marry you?"

He nods his head.

Iris pushes. "Even though I already said yes?"

He nods again.

And really, he was too adorable and this was still _their_ night together, so if he wanted to do a _proper_ proposal, she'd let him.

She toys with the ring on her finger before gently slipping it off, eyes lingering on it a little too long before reaching out and opening up his palm.

"Here," she whispers, putting the ring in his palm, and closing his fingers around it. 

Barry pauses for a few moments, ring still tightly held in. "This isn't you saying no, is it?" he asks, and she thinks he might be the most confusingly sappy person she's ever met.

"Barry!"

"I'm kidding," he grins, leaning in to kiss her.

She holds his lips between hers for as long as she can before letting him pull away. His hand grips her chin, leveling their eyes, and Iris already feels the tears readying themselves all over again.

"I didn't know how to do it," he starts, now moving his free hand to grip one of hers.

"I didn't know whether to put it in a brownie. I figured that risked you choking, which wouldn't have been good."

Iris shakes her head. "Definitely not," she laughs, fighting off the tears.

"And then I thought of doing some sort of scavenger hunt, where I'd leave little notes everywhere and you'd have to figure out the clues before getting to the ring. But then I realized that didn't make sense...to have you investigating to find a ring...and you do that enough already...you work too hard already."

He pauses, and she can almost guess the next words out of his mouth, because she feels them too, has felt them all year.

"It's not always easy between us," Barry's voice cracks. Iris uses her own free hand to caress his cheek.

"Bear..."

"I can do it," he laughs, leaning in to kiss her palm. 

She swallows her next words, letting him continue.

"You put up with a lot, Iris. Between time travel and me always putting myself in danger and evil speedsters getting revenge on me by kil...using you..."

_She's not dead._

_He's not dead._

She repeated that mantra to herself fifty times over the night they defeated Savitar, the night everyone was safe from the speedster's prophecies. 

Sometimes it was hard to believe.

Sometimes, she'd wake up screaming from her nightmares. Sometimes, it'd be Barry.

But they'd always hold on to each other a little tighter during those nights. And when morning came around, they made sure they were okay, that the bad dreams from the night before didn't weigh a heavy burden on them for the new day.

That's what they did.

Over and over again till the nightmares stopped. Till they found a way to fix the broken pieces.

"...and I know, through it all," Barry continues, "you never gave up on me. On  _us._ And you loved me more than I deserved on some nights. And you held me when I should've been holding you on others."

"Barry," Iris interrupts, a little breathless.

He shakes his head, wiping away the tears from his eyes. "Sorry, I'm sorry," he smiles, "this isn't supposed to be sad."

"No," she exhales, leaning into his chest, sitting herself on his lap, her legs coming to encircle his waist, "it's okay."

He wraps his arms around her. "Maybe I shouldn't have asked it."

"I want you to," Iris quickly replies, cupping his face, "I want you to ask me."

"Okay."

He smiles and pulls down on one of her arms, so that her hand is free. The hand holding the ring comes to rest between their two chests, next to hers.

"I love you, fiercely. With every part of me. With my whole heart. And without you by my side all these years, from when we were kids to now, I would've given up a long time ago.

But your love keeps me going, Iris, day in and day out. And I'd risk it all to be with you. To hold you every night and wake up in your arms every morning. To sneak kisses from you at CCPN and fall asleep with you in my lab."

"You're lucky Singh likes me," she laughs, remembering how many times she took the blame for their little naps while he was supposed to be working.

"I'm lucky to have you," he adds.

She's waiting for the question, but all she wants to do is wrap him tight again and cuddle with him in bed. Proposals be dammed.

"I know it won't always be easy. But I promise you, I will love you hard enough to make everything worthwhile. And if you'll have me, I'd like to do that as your  _husband_ from now on."

Her heart beats uncontrollably, so much so that it makes her hands shake, and she wouldn't have even noticed it had Barry not rubbed her back, in the same way he always did when she was feeling nervous or scared.

She takes a few breaths, deciding to tease him a little more, the mood far too heavy for her liking. "You still haven't asked it, you know."

And maybe he's thinking the same thing she is, but he repositions them in a flash to where she's lying with her back to the bed and he's over her, their bodies tangled together between the sheets.

"Iris West, will you marry me?"

"Do you want me to say yes again?" she grins.

"Were you planning on saying no...?"

"Hmmm..." she sasses him.

"Iris!"

"I'm kidding," she laughs, pulling him back down over her. "Barry Allen, yes, yes and yes. A million times yes. Yes, I will marry you."

The next morning, she wakes up to find the ring on her finger, not sure when he had time to slip it on during their adventures the night before. But there it is, on the fourth finger of her hand that's currently pressed against his chest.

She smiles to herself, stares at it for a few minutes longer. Her hand  _feels_ different. It should be heavier. But it doesn't. It feels just right, like the ring completes it somehow. And she knows they have people to tell and places to go today, but instead, she places a little kiss to Barry's chest, willing herself back to sleep.

The world can go on without the two of them, if only for the next few hours.


End file.
